The Humans

What does it mean to be human ? I really enjoyed this book, both nerve racking at times and heartwarming at others. Its sets an even pace throughout, developing all the characters thoroughly such that you really do care about them. I really hope Matt writes a sequel as there is massive scope to develop this story from an ending that is both satisfying and open. It rather makes you feel better about being who you are despite the flaws we all have. The 'list' when you get to that part of the book wouldnt have been amiss being carried down from Mount Sinai. The more I think about the book having read it, the more I realise that Matt Haig has by way of entertainment with a new take on Alien visitors makes you really think hard about who you are and what you do. Cleverly it leads you in to thinking about self worth from the perspective of what is actually important when you strip everything else away. Putting to one side the message that I feel Matt puts across in the book, it is in itself a fabulous story, funny in places and sad in others, tension and relief in equal measure with futuristic technology thats so advanced its barely separable from magic. Its an easy read, not too long or short and the perfect companion to an afternoon of tea and reading.

This book was chosen by my book club. I read the blurb and decided that it was a fairly safe choice - a guy who has some sort of mental health problem and gradually recovers...... Often interesting but I've read lots like this before. So when I opened the book and started reading I was in for a surprise. From page 1 you realise that Professor Andrew Martin has been killed by some sort of alien force and his body has been taken over so that they can perform a mission. The alien then spends the book observing the human race and trying to understand their motivations. Many preconceptions of life on earth are discussed and dispelled. There is a lot of humour, in fact many sections made laugh out loud - eg a cow is treated as a one stop shop for food, liquid refreshment, fertiliser and designer footwear.... All true, but such an unusual way of thinking about it. There is also much pathos as the alien tries to pick up the Professor's life. Reading the book, reality needs to be put aside (it's an alien!?!) but it is important that the plot feels real. The majority of the book is great in this respect but I found myself being stretched too far in the last quarter of the book - admittedly a very difficult plot to finish satisfactorily. I did love all the characters though, in particular Isobel and Gulliver. Also worth noting the authors very personal note at the end of the book which puts the story firmly into perspective and may have been even better at the start.

This is such a lovely book. Beautiful. Elegiac. Philosophical. And about as honest appraisal of the ridiculous lives us humans lead as you'll ever find in fiction. You need to read it, right now. Actually, it's a hug of a book, a story that will resonate with everyone, a story of what it is to be human by someone who is dispassionate enough to really know. Starman meets the Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time x The Man Who Fell to Earth. When Professor Andrew Martin solves an enormously complex algorithm that unlocks the secret of prime numbers, solving the Riemann equation that has been unresolved for years, he just has to die. And our nameless alien protagonist is sent to kill him across space and time, replacing him physically so as to use the unfortunate Professor's body to find out who else has learnt the secret of the Riemann equation so they too can be killed. This superior knowledge cannot be left in human hands, because, you see, the Riemann solution will enable humans, once enough of them have understood it, to advance so rapidly they'll be able to spread across the known Universe. Something the superior beings sending our assassin cannot allow to happen. There's just one flaw in their plan. In order to blend in as a human, the alien assassin takes the form of one and begins to fall in love with our chaotic and ridiculous lives. Professor Andrew Martin, turns out, is a bit of a bastard. Emotionally distant from his wife and teenage son, Gulliver, a workaholic with no time for anyone but the pursuit of mathematical supremacy he has few friends and even fewer redeeming features. But as the alien settles into the man's skin the absurdity of our all too brief lives begins to intrigue it. And slowly, impossibly and against the express wishes of its superiors back across space and time, the assassin begins to do the impossible. It begins to feel emotions, experience joy and depression, yearning and love and actually, to enjoy being human. As the alien becomes more and more deeply embroiled in human existence he doesn't want to leave and this leads him into inevitable trouble with the bug-eyed boys back home. The Humans is beautifully, sparingly written and there's a gem of wisdom and reflection on every page. It's a page turner too (I gobbled it in a day and a half this summer holiday) and it speaks deeply to us about what should and is important. As our alien sinks deeper and deeper into the human world he sees afresh what we have forgotten, how the very fleeting impossibility of our brief stint in the sun, makes it such a beautiful and amazing thing to be cherished. This book will slap you round the face, mindfulness, philosophy, existentialism all wrapped up in a plot that drives us forward to a poignant and deeply reflective ending. This is such a humane book, detailing our mistakes and pecadillos, lauding them actually, a exploration of our absurdities which will make you smile and cry, sometimes on the self-same page. Within its pages we turn into anthropologists of our own curious species and through these new eyes learn to see our world afresh. Feeling down, despairing and bleak about the world (let's face it there's enough to be depressed about) read this honest, humane and deeply beautiful book. Poetry disguised as prose, wisdom disguised as popular fiction. The author has a wonderful voice; calm, gentle and so very kind its like music. Matt Haig is the very best kind of genius, one who makes us want to strive harder to live better lives, of us, among us, with us on this ultimately tragic trudge beneath the stars. Brilliant. A rare and thoroughly well deserved Five Stars (*****)

For those yet to read the book: Go for it. It is an unusual and interesting mix of sci-fi, poetry, romance, and especially humour. Why 3 stars and not 5? There were a times in the story where I rolled my eyes, and it was an effort to continue. Here are a couple of reasons why, without giving too much away: • Alien omniscience and laughable ignorance is a tricky balancing act not always pulled off. • The author, through the eyes of an Alien, tries to dispense too many “pearls of wisdom” in the latter half of the book – many more than a hundred, although only 97 of them were numbered. Some of them were good, some not so, but there were definitely way too many. • The “authentic voice” of the Alien was occasionally lost – it became the voice of the author. Was I glad I read it? Yes, definitely. Would I read a sequel if one was written? No I wouldn’t.

O livro é espetacular com notas de humor incríveis. Recomendo a leitura.

I love this kind of humors that play with the human natures and the observation of the outsider

Menschen haben Fehler. Menschen sind unsicher. Menschen zweifeln. Doch Matt Haig zeigt in seinem Roman, dass diese Schwächen gleichzeitig auch Stärken hervorbringen. Stärken, die und menschlich machen und die große Gefühle überhaupt erst ermöglichen. Als Außerirdischer hat man es auch der Erde nicht leicht. Menschen verhalten sich oft irrational. Ein Wesen von einem fernen, perfekten Planeten stolpert unweigerlich über den ein oder anderen Fettnapf. Aber dieser Außerirdische hat eine Mission: Er soll eine Entdeckung, die die Menschheit entwicklungstechnisch einen großen Sprung nach vorne katapultieren würde, verhindern. Das ist in den Augen der Außerirdischen durchaus rational, verhindert es doch Gewalt und leid auf der Erde und auf lange Sicht im ganzen Universum. Doch bei der Ausführung seines Plans kommt des Wesen in Schwierigkeiten. Es lernt uns Menschen kennen. Es lernt unser Leben kennen. Und es begreift, was unser Leben, trotz aller Nachteile und Problemen, so aufregend macht. Und diese Entdeckungen sind auch für uns menschlichen Leser nicht nur amüsant, sondern gleichfalls interessant. Ganz nüchtern wird uns ein Spiegel vorgehalten, in dem wir Dinge erkennen, über die wir uns so gar nicht bewusst waren. Jedenfalls zeigt uns das Buch anhand einer tollen, unterhaltsamen Geschichte, was uns in unserem Leben wirklich wichtig sein sollte und wie man Krisen überstehen und darin vielleicht sogar etwas Positives sehen kann. Könnte ich bei der Bewertung 100 Punkte vergeben, dann würde ich - wie vermutlich jeder, der das Buch gelesen hat - natürlich 97 Punkte geben. Aber da das leider nicht möglich ist, nehme ich die Fünf, welche auch eine wunderschöne Primzahl ist. ;) -------------------- The Humans würde ich heute vermutlich noch immer nicht kennen, hätte es nicht Stephen Fry empfohlen. Wem The Humans gefällt, dem könnte aber durchaus andersherum z.B. Stephen Frys Making History gefallen. Darin geht es um einen Geschichtsstudent, der eine Möglichkeit findet, die Geburt von Hitler in der Vergangenheit zu verhindern. Doch darf man die Vergangenheit ändern? Und wenn ja, wie würde die Welt dann heute aussehen? Ein sehr schönen Roman über Schuld, Gewissen und Hoffnung.

Great book that makes you laugh out loud and look a little bit differently about these humans on our planet.

Love the book, the humor is outstanding and like the idea of having an alien see our behavior, it makes you wonder about things we do as humans.